In the Line of Duty: Building a Memorial to the Unsung Canine Heroes of WW1

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Published by Positively Scottish.

They are the forgotten heroes of the Great War, thousands of dedicated individuals who more than played their part on the front line.

But now a crowdfunding campaign is under way to provide a permanent memorial to the Airedale Terriers near the Scottish base where their training began, at East Haven in Angus.

During the First World War, the dogs were used by the British Red Cross and by the Army to locate injured soldiers on the battlefields, for sentry work, to carry messages through the trenches, and to carry first aid supplies and carrier pigeons on crates on their backs.

Wendy Turner, secretary of the Airedale Terrier Club of Scotland Breed Rescue, is leading the crowdfunding to raise £50,000 for a monument, ideally to be unveiled to coincide with the centenary of the end of the war in 2018.

Wendy says: ‘The crowdfunding campaign only started in April and it’s up to over £2000 already. Angus Council said they would match the figure when it reached £1,250 which helps give us a boost. In the meantime, I’m trying to get grants from here, there and everywhere.’

The story behind the campaign began in the early 1900s when Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Hautenville Richardson and his wife, Blanche Bannon, bought Panbride House, a manor house between Carnoustie and East Haven. Both were avid dog trainers.

Wendy says: ‘They looked at small terriers and collies and other breeds but they settled on the Airedale Terriers because of the temperament and the sheer tenacity of the breed.’

Originally, the couple trained four Airedales who were given to the Glasgow Police, two stationed at Maryhill and two at Queen’s Park. These Airedales become the first official police dogs in Scotland and the UK.

At the beginning of the First World War, when word began to spread about the Airedales’ intelligence, obedience and energetic nature, the British Red Cross approached Edwin and Blanche to ask if they could train dogs to locate wounded soldiers and to carry their medical supplies on the battlefield.

Wendy says: ‘Once they were trained for that, the British Army obviously had their eye on them, thinking that they could use these dogs, too. So they asked Lieutenant Richardson and his wife to start training Airedales to carry messages through the trenches, do sentry work, and to carry the carrier pigeons in cages on their backs because the pigeons were used to send messages back and forth during the war.’

The British Army were so pleased with the Airedales’ resourcefulness, aptitude and bravery in war zones that they opened a purpose-built war dog school in Shoeburyness in Essex. Edwin and Blanche then moved into the training school to continue their work.

Wendy says: ‘Our aim is to have a monument built where it all started in Angus because I think it’s a piece of history that’s kind of been forgotten about. When I started researching, I found some contacts in historical societies who I thought would know all about Airedales, but I couldn’t find anyone who knew much about it at all.’

When she began to dig into the history of the Airedales as war dogs, Wendy eventually sourced contact details for someone who pointed her in the direction of Panbride House and this piece of information set her on the right track.

Discovering the history of the Airedales and the sacrifices they made alongside soldiers, in the line of duty, Wendy was inspired to start the campaign to honour these tremendously loyal and intelligent dogs.

Wendy says: ‘I’ve applied for several grants. Our aim is £50,000 as it costs £40,000 alone just for the sculptor and the granite. And the rest of it goes to getting the 30 tonnes of granite moved, pathways put in, getting a plinth and other expenses. I feel like I’m spending my life on a computer at the moment trying to organise it all!’

‘We’re hoping to have sculptor Bruce Walker from Kirriemuir create the monument. It’s his artist’s impression on our website. He’s the only sculptor in Scotland who specialises in granite sculpture. And we really wanted Scottish granite from Aberdeen. We felt that was important because it’s a story that starts here in Scotland.’

You can find out more and donate to the Airedale Monument Fund, here.

What do you think of this story? Let me know in the comment section below.

‘moon child’ Blogmas: A Charitable Christmas

So, today is the 21st of December and we’re now on to day 2 of ‘moon child’ Blogmas! With only four sleeps left until Christmas Day, I thought I’d create a post dedicated to giving back to those less fortunate at Christmas time. Here is the ‘moon child’ top 5 simple and relatively cheap ways to be charitable this festive season:

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Buy a meal for a homeless person on Christmas Day at Social Bite

Social Bite is a sandwich shop with a difference. Based in Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen), Social Bite is a ‘social business’ which means that 100% (every single penny) of their profits go to good causes, and 1 in 4 of the team working at Social Bite are former homeless people. They also feed the local homeless community through the ‘Suspended Coffee and Food’ initiative.

This Christmas, Social Bite will open their doors on Christmas Day to feed the local homeless community and they need help to make sure as many people can get a hot meal and drink on the 25th as possible.

Click this link to donate just £5 to buy a meal for a homeless person or refugee this Christmas – but hurry, you only have hours left to do it! And watch the video below to find out more about how the business works, how it’s changing lives, and how you can help. (You may just spot a certain famous face in the clip, too.)

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Buy a present for a needy cat this Christmas using Amazon Wishlist

As well as helping other people, you can also help needy animals this Christmas by paying for a present which will go to a homeless cat at the North Ayrshire Cat Protection. Click this link to go to the Amazon Wishlist page where you can buy anything and everything from cat food pouches, litter scoopers, toys, beds, blankets, climbing frames and more. Even if you can only spare a few pounds, some of the items available are really cheap, and every little helps.

Image source.

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Donate to Dogs Trust

As the saying goes, a dog is for life, not just for Christmas. But, sadly, there will still be many dogs who are homeless or in shelters this holiday season. Dogs Trust have shelters across the UK and do amazing work by rescuing and re-homing dogs. For those without owners this Christmas, you can still help by sending a donation to Dogs Trust by clicking on this link.

Who could resist this face?

Image source.

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Donate items to food banks and/or charity shops

By simply Googling food banks and charity shops in your local area, you can easily find one nearby and donate tinned goods and food items, warm clothes and gifts that you don’t need, in order to make someone else’s Christmas. Most of us tend to over-buy at Christmas and there will always be goods to spare. So, why not donate them to a worthy cause?

What charitable gestures do you do at Christmas? Let me know in the comment section below.

Interview: Jennifer Mcgregor on Crohn’s Disease and Adaptive Clothing

Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to interview 22-year-old Jennifer Mcgregor, an inspirational student who is carrying on the legacy of her late brother Duncan by building an adaptive fashion line for those with medical conditions which affect how they are able to wear clothing. Jennifer, originally from Clydebank, was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2007 and hopes her clothing line will raise awareness and vital funds for the condition.

With this blog post, Jennifer and I hope to raise awareness for Crohn’s disease (a long-term condition that causes inflammation of the lining of the digestive system) and oesophageal cancer (an uncommon but serious type of cancer that affects the oesophagus).

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SOPHIE: So, you run a clothing company called CrohnieClothing. 
How did the fashion line start? And how did you come up with 
the name "CrohnieClothing"? 

JENNIFER: CrohnieClothing started out as a blog for people like myself with scars, burns and ostomies to be able to wear fashionable clothing while still wearing clothes which support them, and cover up whatever it is that they are uncomfortable with showing to the world.

The aim of the clothing line is to not only provide functional, fashionable clothing, but also to raise awareness for Crohn’s disease which I have, and talk about often on the blog.

I want to stop digestive issues from being a taboo subject as there are more and more people diagnosed everyday.

My aim is also to provide accessible male clothing for which all profits will go to a fund in memorial of my brother Duncan who helped me work on CrohnieClothing, but sadly died of oesophageal cancer in August this year after a year of fighting it.

The fund will be available for people who are needing to be diagnosed early with any kind of digestive issues and mainly in giving people struggling to eat or feeling their throat is blocked a fast pass endoscopy, as with oesophageal cancer early detection is key to having any chance of survival.

S: How did the project initially start? And what has motivated 
you to take CrohnieClothing to new heights?

J: The project started in 2013 when I was given the task of creating a business idea which I could make a reality if I left college or university and didn’t have a job. I started thinking of ideas for the potential business and I realised how much I struggled with finding suitable clothes that supported my tummy. I needed trousers that were high-waist as I’m quite tall, so I often needed my mum to alter my clothes which was great for me, but what about people in my position who don’t have a seamstress mum? So, I thought the clothing line was only going to come about due to my Crohn’s, I decided it had to be pivotal in the naming of the company.

The motivation to take it to new heights is mine and my brothers determination this last year to make something positive come from our struggles as Duncan was diagnosed in August 2014 with cancer, and I was in the process of getting my ileostomy (stoma similar to a colostomy) surgery planned and we both were finding getting clothes so much harder as we were in more pain and discomfort in our own everyday clothing.

We always spoke about continuing the clothing line if something happened to either one of us, and after my surgery when I ended up with sepsis, I could easily have been the one not here instead of Duncan. And if that happened, we promised we’d continue while not only making clothes that help others, but also raising awareness in particular for Crohn’s and oesophageal cancer.

And if there are any profits from the menswear collection, they will go into the fund in his name for people who need the early detection of his type of cancer since it is becoming more and more common in younger people, mainly boys, and it is still treated as an old persons disease.

S: What are the biggest challenges of working on 
CrohnieClothing? And what are the biggest highlights? 

J: The biggest challenges in working for CrohnieClothing are that there are so many days when I want to give up and just lie down to being unwell myself and sleep for weeks. It’s also hard to keep going through the grief of losing someone as close as I was to Duncan too, so it’s really just trying to not be swallowed up by the sadness when sometimes it feels like all I want to do.

But I know that this is our dream and that he’s not here to make it a reality, so I have to do it for both of us.

Some of the highlights were winning the Herald Scottish Digital Business Award in 2013 back when the project was just a blog and I was still in college. It was such an amazing feeling to be recognised for trying to help myself and others be more confident and comfortable.

To be able to share the award ceremony night with my family, even Duncan since this was less than a year before he was diagnosed, and the project was on in its infancy at the time. Another highlight was being featured in the local newspaper twice and hearing so much positive feedback from people about the idea.

I’ve also had amazing help from people through the GoFundMe page which has raised £1000 and allowed me to start sourcing materials, get some designs down on paper and pay for trademarking our idea. It’s also allowed me to buy materials to make LuckyCoin Bracelets and “Duncs” ribbons which will available online in the next few weeks. There are also “knitted hugs” in the making in the form of lovingly hand-made scarfs and blankets from members of our family.

I got the idea from Duncan. He left me a memory box which has a blanket inside with a note saying that if I’m ever sad, I should wrap the blanket around me and it’ll be like a hug from him.

Without the generosity of family and friends we wouldn’t be well on our way to selling these and hopefully making some more money to help fund the first run of clothes.

S: How did Duncan get involved in CrohnieClothing? Can you tell me a bit 
more about him?

J: Duncan was my 34-year-old brother who had oesophageal cancer and sadly passed away in August. He was my rock when I was unwell for the last 9 years, and he made sure that I was always taken care of, even after he got sick too.

In Duncan’s case, he had been suffering from some serious symptoms of his primary tumour in his oesophagus since 2013 when he felt like there was something in his throat and he struggled to eat meat. Looking back now, these things seem very obvious signs but we trusted our doctors to get him sorted. They didn’t do an endoscopy at that point which could have potentially saved his life and he could still be with us.

However, due to his age and fitness alongside being a non-smoker, the doctors didn’t think cancer was on their radar. Even when he asked for an endoscopy in 2014, they put it off to the point where he couldn’t eat and had lost two stone in weight while being at the GP regularly telling them something wasn’t right. But Duncan being Duncan, he didn’t want to cause a fuss and he let it go.

Finally in July 2014, he went to an out of hours doctor and the steps were taken towards diagnosis with an ultrasound, endoscopy and lots of other tests ordered for the same week. That was when we found out Duncan had cancer and that it was serious. He started chemo in the September, and he lost more weight and was getting really sore while wearing his normal clothes.

Jennifer and her brother Duncan.

He also had to carry around a chemo pump with him every day which pumped chemo and other meds into his body through a PICC line which he was very self-conscious about. This led to us talking about how good it would be to have pockets in jeans, joggers and pj’s which would have fitted his pump. He also wanted very stretchy tops that could stretch over his arm and not be painful or risk pulling out the line from his vein which happened on a few occasions late last year and left him without chemo for a few days at a time, not helping his situation.

From then on, we were both off with being unwell. I had to leave my job and he had to leave his too which left us lots of time to talk about clothes and how difficult we were finding it to wear our normal clothing, especially with us both having major surgeries coming up and knowing it would just get harder.

That’s when Duncan decided he wanted to join the CrohnieClothing project and design menswear. Once he was better, we decided we would both get it properly started. However, Duncan didn’t get that chance as in May this year, he went for the surgery to remove his tumour and we found that his cancer had spread to his liver and lungs too. We realised his condition was terminal and he don’t have long at all.

Through all of this, Duncan had been so brave and only ever wanted to make sure everyone else was okay. He was even determined to get married to his now wife and my amazing sister-in-law Caroline who made him happier than I ever thought possible and gave him a reason to smile even when he was in such a grim place. He even told me to continue with this and make sure people like us are not only able to feel more normal, but that we also have a voice and helped others get an early diagnosis because with any kind of digestive disease, early diagnosis is crucial.

S: What do you hope to achieve with CrohnieClothing in the future?

J: In the future, I would love CrohnieClothing to be selling to people all over the world, whether they have something they want to hide or not. I believe that there is such a gap in the market for clothes like this and

I think there needs to be more models on the catwalk with scars, burns, ostomies and stretch marks – anything else that challenges the idea that to be a model, you have to be societies idea of perfect. It’s wrong because everyone is perfect and their differences only make them more beautiful in my opinion. My ridiculously crazy idea is that we have some kind of catwalk show where all the models show us that beauty and fashion are not ‘one size fits all’ and that we all have differences, be it medical or otherwise.

I’d also love to help even just one person get diagnosed early with oesophageal cancer and help them get on their first steps to recovery; for someone to get the chances that Duncan didn’t have.

S: Does your degree relate to CrohnieClothing? If so, 
how does it help you with the business?

J: My degree does relate to running CrohnieClothing as I know just now that I am always learning how to run more and more of the business. I’m taking an entrepreneurship class this year which I’m hoping will help me learn how to get CrohnieClothing off the ground and help with funding. My business law class is helping me learn how to make sure everything I do through CrohnieClothing is legal and done in the correct way and marketing is helping me find where we fit in the world of products available as we are in the middle ground between the health sector and the fashion sector.

Alongside the other classes I’m taking, I hope to leave university with my degree and be a far more rounded business owner and director.

S: I saw on your blog that you want to raise awareness 
of Crohn's disease. What would you say to people 
who don't know much about the condition?

J: I’d say to people who don’t know much about Crohn’s disease that, first of all, it isn’t like IBS. IBD, which is the umbrella under which Crohn’s comes under, is an autoimmune disease which can affect you basically in any way from head to toe and not just mean I have to go to the toilet a lot. I’ve had loads of symptoms from: losing most of my hair as I don’t absorb nutrients well; abscesses that have popped up from my chest and my thighs down to my shins due to the Crohn’s manifesting in my skin; very weak crumbly bones and joints due to long-term use of corticosteroids (steroids) which made me gain a lot of weight on and off over the years; and now my large intestines being so scarred due to inflammation and ulcers that I had to have it removed and be given an ileosomy (similar to a colostomy).

I’d say if anyone had the symptoms of very painful tummy cramps, having to run to the bathroom, blood in their stool, lethargy or feeling or being sick often to definitely go get checked for IBD. As I’ve said before, early diagnosis is crucial and if I didn’t shrug off my symptoms for as long as I did, I may have held on to my large intestines longer than I did.

Also I’d like to add that not everyone with Crohn’s or IBD gets an ileostomy or colostomy, it’s more people like myself that don’t respond to the treatments.

S: Why is CrohnieClothing so important to you? What makes 
it so different from other clothing companies?

J: CrohnieClothing is so important to me because it’s my, and Duncan’s, legacy. It’s something positive that can come out of the biggest challenges in our lives and especially with having my ileosomy and wearing a bag for life, I don’t want it to be such a taboo thing.

I also don’t want other people being in pain just wearing clothes because it can be absolute agony having, for example, a t-shirt being stuck to the sticky part of my bag and ripping it off with just moving in bed and waking up covered in blood and feeling really sore.

There is also a gap in the market where people do not have easily accessible, affordable clothes that will cover their insecurities as I cannot find anyone doing anything similar online, especially no one having a charitable aspect like the Lucky Coin menswear having the fund for early diagnosis of oesophageal cancer.

S: I read your blog post addressed to lecturers and tutors 
in regards to Crohn's disease. Do you think university staff 
should do more to be inclusive and accommodating to students 
with health conditions? 

How do you think lecturers and tutors, and indeed fellow 
students too, should behave around those with Crohn's and 
other similar conditions?

J: I think they should. I don’t believe a student should have to worry about going to university in case they get pointed at for going to the bathroom because, looking at me from the outside, you’d never guess I was unwell. Chances are in every lecture, there is at least one person who has some kind of medical issue they cannot change, feel uncomfortable about and will probably need to leave or use the bathroom.

I don’t think that lecturers should ever comment on people leaving the room at all because I get very embarrassed by it and have sat for two hours in a double lecture with a bag leak because I was too scared to be pointed out and someone might notice that I’ve got a wet patch on my jeans. It’s unfair and university staff especially should be more sensitive. (To read Jennifer’s full blog post, click here.)

S: What's next for CrohnieClothing? Do you have any 
exciting plans coming up in the future?

J: The next steps are trying to find investment as this project is taking over and becoming far bigger than myself alone and I need help with it! I’ve toyed with the idea of Dragons Den and other enterprise competitions, but for the next few months, I’ll be focussing on getting the business plan finalised, and starting to do some sponsored events to try to reach the £5000 goal I have set, and ensuring the Lucky Coin bracelets and ribbons go online as soon as possible, along with the knitted hugs!

I’m also working closely with City of Glasgow College to potentially rebrand CrohnieClothing and make up a logo for Lucky Coin for CrohnieClothing and get the website up and running so I can blog, sell and receive donations all in one place.

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To get involved with the CrohnieClothing project, click the links below:

• CrohnieClothing blog.
• CrohnieClothing Facebook page.
• Lucky Coins bracelets are available to buy now!

For more blog posts and information on IBD (the umbrella term for Inflammatory Bowel Disease), visit Rebecca Crawford’s enlightening blog: Rebecca Crawford: Live in the Light and read her new blog post What I’ve Learned From Having An Incurable Illness.

More information can be found below:

• Crohn’s & Colitus UK
• Oesophageal cancer | Cancer Research UK

A huge thank you to Jennifer for sharing her incredible story.

What did you think of this blog post? Please let us know in the comment section below.

Refugees Welcome: The People Have Spoken

Published by CultNoise Magazine.

Today, David Cameron finally bowed to the overwhelming public outcry, and immense national and international pressure urging Britain to do more to help in the Syrian refugee crisis.

Following the shocking image that went viral this week of three-year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi who drowned and was washed up on a beach in Turkey as his family tried to flee to the Greek island of Kos, the British Prime Minister announced that Britain will act “with our head and our heart” and “accept thousands more” Syrians from refugee camps in countries bordering Syrian; in the hope that this move will discourage Syrians from taking the treacherous journey to Europe on boats organised by people smugglers which has already resulted in thousands of deaths at sea.

The disturbing and tragic image of Aylan Kurdi, who was buried in his hometown of Kobani today, and the story of the 71 refugees found dead in a lorry abandoned on an Austrian motorway this month have galvanized public interest in the urgency and scale the Syrian refugee crisis, sparked by the Syrian civil war which initially began in 2011.

While many have taken to social media to share their feelings of disgust that an image of a dead child was being “politicized” and that the use of such a photograph is “disrespectful”, these comments only illuminate how misdirected and ignorant attitudes in Britain still are in relation to this crisis.

The mere fact that such a young child like Kurdi and his five-year-old brother Galip and their mother Rehan were forced into a situation where they had to flee their home and seek asylum by embarking on a dangerous and unpredictable journey that resulted in their harrowing deaths is the part of this story that warrants a public outcry. The fact that this harrowing event was allowed to happen in the first place is what deserves to be acknowledged. The use of this, albeit disturbing, image does not deserve public angry in comparison with the suffering of tens of thousands of refugees. It is the crisis itself and the inaction to stop it that deserves public outrage – not a photograph.

While many have praised Britain’s role in proving aid and opening its doors to Syrian refugees, others have criticized the slow response and have said that accepting thousands rather than tens of thousands of refugees is simply not enough.

What remains clear is that much more must be done on a global scale to ease the suffering of refugees and we all have a part to play. It is now the time to put our religious and political differences aside and look within ourselves to find our compassion and humanity, and to recognize that this is not a migrant crisis – it is a humanitarian crisis.

It is the moral responsibility of all of us as citizens of developed countries to implore world leaders to act now. It is of paramount importance that we collect donations, raise awareness, hold vigils and demonstrations and shout about this issue until our voices are heard; until leaders around the world listen to the people. This is a time to temporarily forget about the rigidness of policies, legislation and formalities, and to acknowledge that this is the biggest and most devastating refugee crisis since the second World War.

At one time, there were thousands of Britons in need who sent their children, sometimes thousands of, miles away to the countryside and rural towns to escape the danger in the cities during WW2. We seem to have forgotten that at one time, Britons were seeking help and safety just as the Syrians and refugees from other nations are today, which is all the more reason to have empathy and compassion; and to offer help in the form of our various resources from donations and aid to welcoming refugees who want nothing more than safety, freedom and peace.

Image courtesy of Eoghan Rice / Trocaire via Flickr.

It is the time to dispel ignorance, racism and selfishness, and to instead offer help and support to those who need it most. The millions of people in Syria and other countries struggling in conflict and poverty are not just refugees or asylum seekers; they are human beings. They are people just like you and I with their own families, hopes, ambitions, dreams and sorrows, and they desperately need to be greeted with compassion and, above all, help.

A crisis of this scale is never going to be solved over night. There is only so much that any one country can do to help relieve the suffering of the refugees of the Syrian civil war. The solution to this crisis remains unclear, but what is clear, is that we should be doing more to help.

To contribute to the relief efforts, you can: gather clothes, shoes and toiletries to take down to your local collection point to donate; donate money through Oxfam or Save the Children; fundraise yourself; buy an item on the Amazon wish list for donation to refugees in Calais and Greece; donate directly to the relief efforts in Calais; attend a vigil in your city (Glasgow has sparked a series of “Sees Syria” events around the country); or anything at all that you can manage to do – every act of charity, no matter how small, will help.

No human being is illegal. Let’s create a world without borders. Refugees welcome.

What are your thoughts of the refugee crisis? Let us know in the comments section below.

Featured image courtesy of Haeferl via Wikipedia.

Header image courtesy of Leif Hinrichsen via Flickr.

10 Reasons to Love Mhairi Black

Read my latest CultNoise magazine article on 10 Reasons to Love SNP MP Mhairi Black:

Since 2014, we have seen a huge surge in public interest in politics, particularly amongst young people. Rather than young people being typically disinterested with the political world, they are now making it their business to fight for a better government and a better society.

The political landscape in Scotland has changed dramatically within the last year with the Scottish National Party (SNP) experiencing a landslide in support and winning a staggering 56 seats at Westminster in May’s General Election; something which has never been done by any other party before. One of the politicians at the helm of this new wave of politics in Scotland is Britain’s new youngest MP, Mhairi Black.

Charitable Things to Do That Won’t Cost You a Penny

Read my new CultNoise magazine article on charitable things to do that are absolutely free:

The UK is an extremely charitable country and I think it is instilled in us all from a young age to help others less fortunate and to spare what you can if it can benefit someone else. As a child, I did fundraising for the PDSA, a UK charity that provides free veterinary services for the pets of needy owners. I took part in the PDSA PetAid Challenge, which is great fun and a brilliant way to get children involved in charity work.

But as I am now a full-time student with little pennies or time to spare, I’ve been looking for other ways to do good things for others that don’t break the bank. If you are in a similar predicament, there are countless charitable things you can do that won’t cost you a penny. Here are just a few:

Adopt a Polar Bear!

Today, I received my polar bear adoption pack from WWF! They’re such a great charity who do amazing work around the world to protect endangered animals. To adopt an animal is only £3 a month and it all makes a difference. I’m looking into what else I can do to support and what kind of fundraising events I could do so if anyone has any ideas for me, don’t hesitate to get in touch! Check out the website to see how you can get involved – http://www.wwf.org.uk/